With these words, it is the destiny of men, women, and directors to write their names in the stars as masters of acting and creating talents for the good of money, talent, and fame.
Released: 26 October 1970
Directed By: Sergei Fyodorovich Bondarchuk
Starring Rod Steiger Christopher Plummer Orson Welles Jack Hawkins Virginia McKenna Dan O'Herlihy Rupert Davies Philippe Forquet Gianni Garko Ivo Garrani Ian Ogilvy
Domestic Box Office: 30,005,888
International Box Office:40,048,925
Production Budget: 25,000,000
Net Worldwide Gross (+)45,054,813
Critic Reception: D100 => 18 #Waterloo Critic Roll
Audience Reception: D100 => 89 #Waterloo Audience Roll
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Cromwell
Released: 16 July 1970
Directed By: Ken Hughes
Starring Richard Harris Alec Guinness Robert Morley Dorothy Tutin
Domestic Box Office: 2,321,315
International Box Office: 3,140,048
Production Budget: 9,000,000
Net Worldwide Gross (-3,538,637) D100 => 71 #Cromwell Critic Roll D100 => 43 #Cromwell Audience Roll
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Mash
Directed By: Robert Altman
Released: January 25, 1970
Starring: Donald Sutherland Elliott Gould Tom Skerritt Sally Kellerman Robert Duvall Roger Bowen
Domestic Box Office: 31,226,765
International Box Office: 49,977,076
Production Budget: $3.025 million
Net Worldwide Gross (78,178,841) D100 => 90 #Mash Critic Roll D100 => 78 #Mash Audience Roll
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tora! Tora! Tora!
Directed By: American sequences
Richard O. Fleischer
Japanese sequences Kinji Fukasaku Toshio Masuda
Domestic Box Office: 3,391,721
International Box Office: 53,198,254
Production Budget: $25 million
Net Worldwide Gross: D100 => 84 #Tora Tora Tora! Critic Roll D100 => 86 #Tora Tora Tora! Audience Roll
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Scream and Scream Again
Directed By:Gordon Hessler
Starring: Vincent Price Christopher Lee Peter Cushing
Domestic Box Office: 89,266
International Box Office: 1,064,810
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Airport
Directed By:George Seaton
Starring: Burt Lancaster Dean Martin Jean Seberg Jacqueline Bisset George Kennedy Helen Hayes Van Heflin
Domestic Box Office: 70,782,010
International Box Office: 55,159,174
Production Budget: $10.2 million
Net Worldwide Gross: 125,941,164 D100 => 95 #Airport Critic Roll D100 => 83 #Airport Audience Roll
A/N:
So, while Waterloo has sadly gone unappreciated as it was IOTl, Tora Tora Tora has been acknowledged for its greatness.
Goals/Achievements (I will probably edit it and add categories and stuff, add your own suggestions!)
Awards:
• Win an Oscar
• Win a Golden Globe (by @Pathetic King)
• Win an Emmy
• Win a Tony Award (could be fun)
• Win a Razzie(?)
Cultural Impact:
• Get a lead role in a Bollywood film
• Do a genuine martial arts movie
• Be a Bond, or a Bond villain
• Become a Sex Symbol
• Get a Star on the walk of Fame (by @Pathetic King)
• Be a part of a movie that inspires a social movement
• Be a part of a movie that sparks a trend in fashion or pop culture
• Play a historical figure in a biopic
• Be a part of a movie that becomes a Halloween costume staple
• Play a character in a movie or TV show that is referenced in other media
• Be a part of a movie that inspires a theme park attraction or ride
• Play a character that becomes a popular toy or action figure
Random stuff:
• Get a role where you play a significant younger/older character
• Get a role that require a skill you don't have and manage to fake it through
• Save a co-worker from near IRL death while on set
• Get a role of the opposite gender
• Date someone IRL after you acted as a couple
• Have a very good friend as your antagonist in a movie
• Play the same character in both a movie and a TV show
• Learn a new language for a lead role in a foreign-language film (by @Pathetic King)
• Write your own screen play, sell it and then star in the remake (by @Magoose)
• Be part of a movie that becomes a cult classic years after its release
• Get injured on set and continue to act through the injury
• Act in a movie that is shot entirely in one take
• Play a character with a disability that is portrayed accurately and respectfully
• Act in a movie that is entirely improvised
• Play a character with a completely different personality from your own
• Act in a movie that is adapted from a book you love.
• Play a character that is completely CGI or motion-captured
• Act in a movie that is based on a true story and meet the real-life person you portrayed
Endgame (really difficult to get) stuff:
• Create a critically acclaimed independent film with a budget under $1 million
• Be part of a movie that is banned in multiple countries due to controversial content
• Win an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony)
• Be part of a movie that is entirely shot on location in space
• Play a character that requires you to learn a completely new and invented language
• Be part of a movie that is so controversial that it leads to a change in government policy or law
The Critics came back with middling reviews… Perhaps that was entirely expected from what you knew about the Critics.
Roger Ebert: "The movie's strength is not in its story but in its unsettling and weirdly effective visual and sound style. THX 1138" suffers somewhat from its simple storyline, but as a work of visual imagination it's special, and as haunting as parts of "2001: A Space Odyssey," "Silent Running" and "The Andromeda Strain.""
It was a good, even a great film if you asked those that actually saw the film, but what the suits cared about was money. The film did not make as much money as everyone wanted, especially after so many delays on the set, which the suits at warner brothers did not like.
It was in Theaters for less than a month before WB pulled the Plug.
The Audience loved it, but it didn't matter what they thought, because, halfway through a potential video tape production to earn money through rentals, they just stopped sending VHS tapes to the Video rental companies, stifling the possibility to make back their money by rentals, not even a month into release on VHS.
To say that the Studio just screwed Geroge, You, and Francis out of potentially another million dollars, in addition to what you already lost, that was projected from video rentals… merely made you pissed off even more.
But for George, it was devastating. He put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into this film and was lucky that it was even Finished thanks to you.
But it wasn't meant to be. And all George was left with, was a reputation of going over budget, over schedule, and not meeting deadlines and expectations.
And that might kill his career.
If The studies didn't realize one thing...
George Lucas didn't back down. And he wouldn't give up after a setback of this magnitude, especially since, given all that they saw, in less then a month, it could have made tens of millions.
And he had a plan. A very good one.
AN:
George got Fucked.
But damn did people think he made a good film.
Also, just to remind you that Hollywood is run by idiots...
Close Encounters of the Third Kind Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Produced by: Bruce O'Brian, Alan Ladd
Distribution and Production: Lucasfilms Unlimited
Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon, François Truffaut, Bob Balaban
Budget: 20 million Domestic Gross: 299,125,796
International Gross: 310,457,732
Total Gross: $609,583,528 Bruce's Cut (50%): $304,791,764
After watching Close Encounters of the Third Kind you could safely say that whatever tiny slivers of doubt in your mind towards Steven being the Director have completely vanished. Conan was going to be in amazing hands, the Star Wars trilogy was going to go out in a grand finale.
In many ways Close Encounters was sort of an inverse of Star Wars. Whereas Star Wars showed the mundane life of a galaxy, far, far away and how current human conflicts could appear in another time and galaxy, Close Encounters showed the extraordinary being brought to Earth through a potential first encounter told through an optimistic lens, where mankind takes its first steps in a greater universe. Both were stories of hope, but with fundamentally different conflicts; good vs evil with Star Wars and how do we take our first steps with Close Encounters. The story followed an Indiana blue collar electrician named Roy McNeary who has a personal encounter with UFOs and then begins an obsession and journey thanks to some sort of psychic connection with the aliens with a call to a higher purpose. Joining him is Jillian Guiler, a a single mother who had a close encounter herself and is in search of her son, all the while the United Nations and America are seeking answers for why the UFOs have come to Earth and how to best communicate with them.
At first it was seeming to be a Jaws-esque thriller of something inhuman terrorizing the heroes who must battle the monstrous unknown with the tone of the abductions and the ongoing conspiracy throughout the plot. You are so happy that it wasn't just some 50's schlock UFO action film about surviving against the aliens, but an adventure of discovering the unknown and taking those brave first steps. The absolute highlight of the movie were the actors. Everyone did a terrific performance, with fellow American Graffiti alumni Richard Dreyfuss giving off a performance that you felt was deserving of an Oscar. There were plenty of great moments of humanity, the great exhibition of the emotions of wonder and terror when facing the possibility of aliens, and the characters for the most part were a joy to watch as normal relatable people responding in different ways to this situation. Steven did a terrific job with the atmosphere, somehow managing to balance the two tones of terror and wonder and creating a realistic depiction of how such a first encounter would play out. You absolutely fell in love with how Steven crafted the story and lead the cast and when you got home you were sure there was going to be a day you spent in the theater taking notes for your directing style. John Williams returns with another amazing score, not quite the grand opera of Star Wars but one that heavily upflits the story and plays well with the action and helps strengthen the audience's emotional connection to the film. By far though the greatest star of the show was ILM. The Magicians went above and beyond the call of duty and proved to the world that Star Wars was not a one trick pony and they were the masters of special effects. The quality of the effects were just as good as Star Wars and in some select scenes better. The UFO encounters and abduction were a perfect combination of thrills and horror as the cast encounters something beyond their comprehension that they have no control over. The spaceships and aliens are an interesting combination of homage to classic alien tropes while also giving them a beautiful artistic redesign that makes them distinct. The mothership was a work of art equal to the Death Star and the climax of the first contact was honestly one of the best scenes you'd ever seen in film.
You had a strong feeling that Close Encounters would be an instant success considering it was a Sci-fi film made by the studio that made Star Wars. Still, the movie's performance went beyond your expectations with Steven doing a repeat of Jaws by making a blockbuster instant classic that became the second highest grossing film of all time below a movie that starred Carrie O'Brian. Not to mention that with Star Wars and Close Encounters alone Lucasfilms made $2 billion. Reports were coming in over the world that Close Encounters was a certified hit with even the Israeli and Jordanian theaters seeing long lines. Just like you people fell in love with the beautiful story and gorgeous visuals with there being some hope that maybe some day we can have a peaceful encounter like this. High praise was given for the cast and for Spielberg who many believed proved himself an equal to the great George Lucas, though you knew there was no competition between the two brothers of film. While it wasn't close to toppling Star Wars as the greatest film of all time, many people would come to call it their favorite, and as you would later find out there was an interesting schism within the Sci-Fi community were many fans, particularly the Trekkies and very loudly one Ray Bradbury, praised Close Encounters as the best Sci-Fi film and a true representation of the genre versus Star Wars which was more fantasy in space.
Unfortunately when it came to critics they once again for some bizarre reason didn't resonate along the same wavelength as the people. Oh it's not like the film was universally hated and panned like Five Dates, if that happened you would have lead a people's rebellion against the critics. Overall critical reception for the film was positive, but it was along the same lines as Jaws with polite and mildly enthusiastic praise and approval, a few bold ones who extoled it as one of the greatest (Ebert held it as Star Wars' equal and this is after he canned Five Dates, seriously what the hell does this guy like to flip flop so much?) and a very loud minority of harsh critics. You found those critics to mostly be nitpicking and being a bit too mean in expressing their personal tastes with common calls for complaint being the pacing, tonal differences of the first and second half, lack of exploration for the aliens, an admittedly long and somewhat tedious middle when Roy and Jillian first make to Wyoming and the government side not being as engaging.
However, one criticism that you did have to agree with the Moralists of all groups is criticism towards Roy in how he casually abandons his wife and kids and just drops everything on Earth to go exploring with the aliens. It makes sense within the context of the film and was objectively a fascinating character journey, but to you personally it made you feel ill and a bit disgusted with Roy in spite of Richard's magnificent performance. Had you watched the film a year earlier you would have not found much fault, but as a soon-to-be father, Roy being so awful to his wife and children who he dearly loved in the beginning and all due to a psychic alien experience just felt wrong and a bitter taste to a great film. The thought of being in the same position and doing it to Carrie and your future kids made you sick and pushed you to side more with Jillian who in spite of her fascination with the aliens placed her love of her son Barry first. You still loved the film, but thinking back on the plot line you had to do your best to separate Bruce the artist from Bruce the husband and future father in watching in the future.
If there was one good thing about the set clusterfuck it's that it gave Steve an opportunity to fly back to LA to attend the premiere while the set was being rebuilt. In the meantime, you reserved a couple of theaters for the entire cast and crew to watch the movie, and when it was done you could tell there was a shared sentiment of everyone involved that they were now in something great and everything was going to be alright with Steven Spielberg at the helm. When Steve returned, he was greeted with a hero's welcome, receiving dozens of congratulations and compliments from the cast and crew. After near an hour of conversation, Steve went to retire to his hotel room to recover from the jet lag and invited you to join him.
When the two of you entered his room, Steve humorously collapsed on his bed and groaned in relief. "I take it they liked the film?" He asked cheekily.
You smiled, "Everyone loved it, no doubt this is gonna be the film of the year and we'll snag a couple of Oscars. If I have to be honest, I actually kind of like it a lot more than Jaws. No offense."
Steve chuckled. "Thanks, I actually got that a lot from people at the premiere, and I kind of agree. Really happy to have this as my Lucasfilms debut." Steve then got up and offered, his hand, which you then took with him then pulling you in for a hug. "Thank you so much Bruce, for believing in me when everyone thought I was just a stupid and irresponsible brat with one good movie."
You reciprocated the embrace, "Hey, most of history's greatest artists started out being seen as insane. Really happy I get to not only live in the same age as two of the greatest filmmakers but work with them."
Steve smiled greatly at that and then settled down, "You know all that stuff George believes about poetry rhyming? Well Jaws and Close Encounters were both heavily messy in location shooting, and considering we got our fantasy land turned into a dump, I'd say it looking pretty well for Conan."
You shook your head with a smile at that. George liked to believe that if something repeated in life than whatever happened before, whether good or bad would happen on an equal scale again. Whenever something happened in Star Wars production that mirrored American Graffiti, even difficulty, he got super stoked as it felt it was a good sign. You could really do without the bullshit and stress, but the paranoid and superstitious side of your brain became a bit hopeful that this would all be worth it if so.
"How was the premiere?" You asked.
"Pretty good, went mostly about as well as Star Wars. One big difference I think is that we're not just seen as lucky hacks that everyone is waiting to fail, even by Universal. I kind of got the feeling from everyone going in that they knew they were in for a good time, not because of Jaws or Sugarland Express, but because it was a Lucasfilms movie. You know, I actually made Gene Roddenberry cry?"
Your jaw dropped at the statement, "Steve, what the fuck did you do?!" There already seemed to be a growing rivalry brewing between Star Wars and Star Trek fans, you didn't need to start beef with Roddenberry and Paramount.
Steve raised his hands, "Oh no, not like I insulted or hurt him like that, I meant with the film." He laughed to which you gave a stink eye for the faux paus. "He said he loved it, looked like it really resonated with him. Apparently he's gonna use it as inspiration for the new movies and show."
Not something you were enthusiastic to hear that the competition got a morale boost, but then again maybe great Star Trek can inspire Star Wars to become even better like how Star Wars took partial inspiration originally.
"How was Carrie?" You asked. She promised to attend the red carpet premiere in support. Part of you was tempted to fly to LA with Steve and spend a day with your beloved princess, but with the ongoing shitshow you had to at least be present to lead.
"She was doing pretty good, had a great time with Todd and Debbie. Also starting to show a bit on the waist."
"Steve, if my wife wasn't pregnant I'd clobber ya." You joked, but perhaps not delivered in the best way as Steve looked genuinely frightened for a second.
"Oh that reminds me, Carrie gave me this letter for you." Steve informed, producing an envelope from his jacket. You thanked the man then went to your room to read in private while Steve looked ready to take a power nap.
When you opened the envelope you discovered a letter and two pictures. You read the letter first, which thankfully was a generally positive one. Carrie shared a summary of some recent events, hanging out with her friends or Todd, watching over the girls who were in good shape, doing a little bit of writing for fun and taking up painting, and spending her weekdays taking some lessons in motherhood from Debbie. It seemed that the Lord was indeed watching over Carrie, and the information that she was happy and doing well even as she missed you made you feel happy and at peace.
But the greatest gift of all were the two photos. One was of a smiling Carrie posing in the backyard, her shirt raised upward while she was positioned to her side to show a small bump beginning to form. The second was an ultrasound photo, one that you had at first thought was a copy of the first one she took which you were thankfully present for before Conan's production began, but the photo showed a more developed fetus with more distinct human features, it was your child.
You sat on your bed and looked at the photo in wonder, staring at what felt like an endless stretch of time, taking in all the little details you could, crying at the pure beauty that was displayed. At the bottom right corner Carrie had signed "Our little Gosling" with a collection of cute hearts decorating the words.
The War in Space Directed by: Jun Fukuda
Produced by: Fumio Tanaka, Tomoyuki Tanaka
Distribution (USA): Lucasfilm Unlimited
Starring: Kensaku Morita, Yuko Asano, Masaya Oki, Ryō Ikebe, Hiroshi Miyauchi, Akihiko Hirata, William Ross, Gorō Mutsumi, Shoji Nakayama and Mammoth Suzuki.
International Box Office: $4,000,000
Lucasfilm Unlimited Profits: $2,000,000
You'd just come out of watching perhaps one of the greatest attempts at imitating Star Wars that you'd ever seen. No, imitating sounded too sinister. Inspired by it is better, as Tomino managed to show a degree of creativity and originality that just made what he calls Gundam be one of the products that will define one's culture, both now and in the future.
So, perhaps it was with that level of optimism in you that you greenlighted The War in Space for distribution when you heard that it was basically Toho's take on a Star Wars based idea. Surely, a company such as Toho, even with all the recent grief between you and them, would not screw up when it comes to a movie that is inspired by the recent phenomenon that is Star Wars after all. They just wouldn't do it.
And you were right, they didn't...it just so happens that their best was just that bad, especially when they didn't have neither the budget, nor the genius of ILM at their beck and call.
To better explain it, and from what you've heard, Toho had seen the writing on the wall thanks to your partnership and the distribution rights they had for Star Wars in Japan. Bad news for them, so had any and all studios that had even heard about the movie before it had hit their shores. So, Toho soon found itself on a race to bring the next Japanese inspired Star Wars with rival studio Toei, and decided to try and race their production to bring it ahead of them, with Toei doing the same.
And thus, on a race to be the first, they both came out last when it came to...well, everything.
Toho's The War in Space, made use of a much-hyped campaign claiming it was the most expensive film they'd made in years. And it really doesn't show at all; the effects are crap, the designs are awful, the costumes are just so bright at all times with no rhyme nor reason, the aliens are just guys with painted green faces who wear particularly daft outfits, the "inventive weapons" look like the bullet chamber from a giant revolver. And could someone please explain to you how does a Spanish Galleon fighting a Submarine floating in space end up being called a Space Epic!?
Oh but that's not all, if you'd thought the effects were bad, then the plot was just the one thing that just made it all the more nonsensical; it all fails due to a dreary beginning, a dreadful pacing and a complete lack of excitement from beginning to end. Did they even pay their writers? You'd almost believe they just went and grabbed the nearest guy out the street and called it a day hoping to save some money for the film, except seeing how utterly awful it is in every aspect disproves that.
The movie starts with an attack on Earth by an alien fleet that has its base on Venus. After several notable landmarks are destroyed, we meet the heroes of the piece: Professor Takigawa, his daughter, and her two suitors Miyoshi and Muroi. These guys, along with a small, dedicated crew, head for Venus in their fresh-off-the-forecourt battleship, The Gohten, in order to save the human race.
This sounds fun, it should be fun, so why is it the place where dreams and enjoyment come to die?!
The entire plot takes so long to start, there's so much talking when there should be action...not that the action is any good either! Badly choreographed laser shoot-outs (did they even practice), tedious space battles (Thank God George did not see this) and a pointless romantic sub-plot that just could be skipped or edited out and nothing would change in the entire film.
Why Toho...just, why?
And you've not even come to the best part, oh no because for all that Toho proudly claimed this to be the most expensive movie they'd ever made...they still had to use Stock footage from their previous films! The destruction on earth is footage from The Last War and Battle in Outer Space, inserted over footage of the flying, firing globes. And they can't even bother to at least make the actors use clothes or costumes that would show that the entire planet is in danger, it's all well maintained and fancy clothes without any smudge at all.
You got a good number who went to see it when they heard it was Japan's answer to Star Wars, then promptly left and never came back again. You didn't blame them; you were so close to just waiting outside the theaters and giving them their money back. You were ready, and willing, to be excoriated for bringing such an awful piece of cinema to the States. You could not even console yourself that it was at least so bad it's good, because it isn't. It's just flat out bad.
...So why the hell are the critics praising them outright, and calling it another example of Japan's mastery of cinema?! You can't be reading it right, there must be a typo, or perhaps there was a mistake and this review was meant for another film, right? There are even moments when you consider the possibility of Mike outright bribing them to just falsify their reviews, if it wasn't for the fact that you don't think any sum of money could be worth it (and you'd checked the funds, it's all still there).
You...you're just going to go home, check on Carrie, and forget this ever happened. God willing the rest of the world will too.
THX 1138 (Director's Cut) Directed by: George Lucas
Produced by: Lawrence Sturhahn, Francis Ford Coppola, Bruce O'Brian, George Lucas
Distribution: Lucasfilms Unlimited
Starring: Robert Duvall, Donald Pleaseance, Don Pedro Colley, Maggie McOmie, Ian Wolfe
Film Quality: D100 + 60 => 158
Audience: D100 + 100 => 192
Critic: D100 + 100 => 146 Domestic Profit: $27,186,062 International Profit: $36,203,010
Total Profit: $63,389,072 Bruce profit: $4,527,790
There were about six events which you would say defined your life. Your upbringing in Ireland, moving to Hollywood, training under Bruce Lee, getting casted into MASH, falling in love with Carrie, and THX 1138. In a way THX above all else defined your film career as it was through THX that you met George and funded his movie to completion, from there produced and starred in American Graffiti, co-founded Lucasfilms, made Star Wars together, and the rest as they say is history.
It was all thanks to a film festival in USC in the fall of 1970. It was an event organized to bolster the department's ranks through enticing high school hopefuls to join the department as well as to get funding from affluent Hollywood. You attended to try and get a sense of what kind of films to audition for and what to make if you were to one day ever be a director. At 11:30 A.M, you sat in the film auditorium and watched Electronic Labyrinth: THX-1138 by George Lucas. It was an experience that deeply moved you like few films ever had before. You saw some of the most beautiful cinematography you had ever seen, filmmaking that was in some respects equal to the visual style of Star Wars. It was so unconventional and strange, but that was part of the wonderful charm of a terrifying reality that felt so close and real from an intensely creative mind, everything that Science Fiction was meant to be and more. After the film ended, you sought out the Dean and asked about this wonderful short film and its creator George Lucas. The man had been astonished, thinking that George would never amount to anything and almost not putting THX in the festival lineup. But he pointed you in the right direction, you got George's contact, sent him his first fan letter, and from there the greatest partnership in film history was forged.
THX was a damn good film, and while you didn't do more than just hand George a check, it was one of your proudest investments for helping it to push across the finish line, and give the world Bruce O'Brian's directorial debut with the mastery of Hallway Scene #11! The people saw George in his greatness and knew that a legend was born, but unfortunately the first release was a disaster with critics being out of touch snobs and even worse, Warner Bros fucked George over and pulled everything out after a month as some peverse punishment for going beyond the budget and schedule even though he was making a profit. Were it not for Warner Bros going under, you honestly believed THX would never see the light of day besides private showings at George's home. Now the first child and prodigal son was back with the family, and while you could have been content with that small victory, there was one more injustice you had to right. Before Star Wars George was known as a man with one great movie and one "bad" movie. After Star Wars he was known as the creator of the greatest film, the classic cruising film that saved Elvis' soul, who just so happened to make a directorial debut that was "Horrible". It was all complete bullshit, and you were going to make damn sure that George got the redemption he deserved and from now on would be known as a perfect filmmaker with total success!
Ironically the biggest obstacle to a rerelease was from George himself. The man was deathly afraid of his public image doing a 180 with THX being rereleased and tarnishing his reputation. With it being a long time before George was back in the Director's chair, he didn't want to be stained as a one-trick pony, a man who lucked his way into making Star Wars while THX would suffer slander. With Mike and Marcia, you used a majority push to vote for a THX rerelease, and while George was hurt at first, your unwavering faith in THX and Marcia's love for her husband pushed George to accept it, and as the five year anniversary drew nearer he was eager for his firstborn film to get the release it deserved.
Marketing for the film was a really fun affair. Mike got the brilliant idea of playing on Warner Bros. sabotage of THX by filming a series of promotional shorts where two drones rebelled against the underground city and fought to make sure a VHS copy of THX-1138 was transmitted on the holobrodcasts to inspire an uprising. The shorts would be narrated by James Earl Jones who made coy comments of how WRN-1976 had tried to destroy all copies of the tale of THX but this December of 1977, the world would once more know his story. The shorts were directed by George in a brief return to the chair who while at first was against the idea, found himself having fun with it as a nostalgic return to his roots and a very artistic middle finger to Warner's grave and Universal. The campaign went wildly popular with most movie audiences falling in love with the satirical story and you heard tales of people purchasing a movie ticket just to see the next part of the storyline. America was hyped for another George Lucas film, and the lucky few who saw THX in its initial run were happy to finally see it once again and share with their friends and family one of the best films they ever saw.
Instead of going to the theaters you opted for a small trip to George and Marcia's with Carrie thanks to him having a personal reel which he showed in his home movie system. It was a very lovely time with Carrie finally experiencing the first Lucas-O'Brian collab which she had missed out on due to settling into New York at the time, and George and Marcia gave you a creator's commentary, sharing war stories of the production and pointing out all the little neat changes that they did for the cut. There was about 15 minutes of extra runtime from a combination of scenes that were cut due to Warner Bros' mandates as well as a few extra "Atmosphere" minutes which George had filmed with the set and actors who were part of the promo shorts to help fulfill his full vision in an exploration of the THX world. The extra stuff while not super critical, really helped to add to the immersion and appreciation of the setting and Marcia's crisp editing helped to enhance its existing strengths of storytelling, cinematography and set design with the actors shining through. Most impressively was that George managed to "Remaster" the film with Pixar's computers, making a crisp and clear High-Definition presentation which was simply drop dead gorgeous, like turning Miss America into Carrie's twin. Most importantly, you were very happy with the fun time spent with friends, and were very grateful that your kid was going to have Uncle George and Aunt Marcia as their Godparents.
As for how the general public reacted? It was a pretty great success and what should have happened had Warner Bros given THX the proper light of day. The box office performance wasn't anywhere close to Star Wars and it was no American Graffiti, but on its own it was a damn good performance for a rerelease with THX together with its original run managing to just cross 100 million on a global gross, spurred on in large part to huge turnout in Japan with Toho's help. The people were hyped to see George Lucas' first movie the year after Star Wars, pushed to the theaters by the campaign. Were it not for the R-rating and the rather bizarre plot from first glance, you were sure THX could have been in the top 10 highest grossing films as the audience reaction was near universal acclaim and praise. It was similar to the positive reception of the original run but more widespread and intense with the general agreement that it was just as good as American Graffiti, to some even better, and a worthy predecessor to Star Wars. Some critics like Ebert stubbornly tried to stand their ground and say that it was still a meh movie, but after five years of weirder shit being released and the context that this was a George Lucas movie, most critics let go of their prejudices and gave it an earnest revaluation, finding all the little things they missed the first time around and admitting that THX 1138 was indeed a great movie. The public was unanimous, George Lucas was three for three in making masterpieces.
Since Mike had gotten the initial rights during Star Wars pre-production, you had been eagerly anticipating the release of The Hidden Fortress, or you suppose re-re-re-release since it had been released twice before in the United States. While George's favorite film was Seven Samurai, it was The Hidden Fortress which along with Dune he took the most direct creative inspiration in writing the story for Star Wars. What you got was an interesting experience to say the least.
Basically Hidden Fortress was if a prescient Akira Kurosawa asked "What if Star Wars was a Samurai film and Luke, Han Solo and Chewbacca didn't exist, and a cowardly and greedy Threepio and Artoo were the stars?". You could easily see why George made the original choices he did because if Hidden Fortress was somehow adapted into a space opera then it would have been shit, but as it was originally it was truly another Kurosawa masterpiece.
To further explain the plot, the Threepio and Artoo of the story, Tahei and Matashichi were two down on their luck peasants who tried to seek fame and fortune in Japan's feudal wars but ended up betrayed and abused by their masters and forced to work as slaves. Escaping, they run into the legendary General Rukorata, the Obi-wan of the film played by Toshiro Mifune himself who was escorting the fair and noble Princess Yuki, determined to somehow see her restored to the throne and the evil Yamana clan overthrown so that the Akizuki's may return. Hidden Fortress had all the hallmarks of a Kurosawa film. The Samurai action was perfection with excellent choreography. Cinematography was artistic from start to finish with every shot having purpose. Great acting from the entire cast. Majestic music to accompany. All while being told from a plot that truly deserved its place as the inspiration for Star Wars. You can easily see why George was so adamant that Toshiro be Obi-wan. Watching his performance as Rukorata is literally like looking at a young Obi-wan without the Force. Hell, the fight scene between Rukorata and his rival Takodoro was almost like watching Obi-wan vs Vader, it was that good. The comedy of Tahei and Matashichi's misadventures and their self-centered natures were off-putting at first, but overtime they grew on you and provided much needed levity. It was a really good film and you were heavily grateful to Kurosawa for making it so George could get the sparks of inspiration from Star Wars.
The film's release alongside THX for the Christmas season was a massive success with the two dominating the box office. For families and your average moviegoer turned off by THX's setting and plot, they instead purchases a ticket to Hidden Fortress to see a "Obi-wan movie" and see another Japanese classic that supposedly was Samurai Star Wars. Despite the massive success that was financially equal to Last Dinosaur, you were surprised by how...subdued general audience reaction was. Oh they had a good time and the general sentiment was that Hidden Fortress was a good movie. But you had a strong feeling that few really fell in love like with Star Wars. In fact, while you were shopping for groceries, you overheard a couple of people in-line talk about how while they enjoyed it, they were disappointed it wasn't completely like Star Wars and wished there was a Luke and Han expy instead of "Japanese Threepio and Artoo" being the protagonists. You guess people went in hoping for an exact replica of Star Wars and left disappointed, understandable.
What you absolutely did not expect was how fucking crazy critics went for the film. The outpouring of love, or more accurately worship of the film made their praise of Seven Samurai and the Lone Wolf and Cub series look like they lynched those films. You enjoyed the movie and thought it was a Kurosawa classic, but almost every critic you read or watched praised it as absolute perfection, the peak of Japanese cinema, if not a contender for the greatest movie ever made before Star Wars came along. Todd even shared a tale of how in his film class, one of the students said that they didn't like Hidden Fortress and the professor got absolutely livid and kicked the student out of his classroom, cussing him out for being an illiterate bum. If Star Wars didn't exist then you were sure that the Critics would proclaim it as the GOAT. Film critics even said that it was leagues better than the likes of Some Nights or The Godfather. Good lord, if Akira Kurosawa ever found himself frustrated with Toho he should just pull a Tomino and move to America, the critics would probably orgasm if he made a two hour paint drying film.
Aside from the massive financial success and Akira Kurosawa accidentally creating a cult of American film critics, you were very grateful for the success of Hidden Fortress to offset the disaster of The War in Space and apologize to Toho for not showing any of their films for months. The critical worship of both the old and new of Hidden Fortress and War in Space respectively made Toho pretty happy that both their classics and current releases would be mainstream successes in America and they could directly compete with the establishment's best and come out a winner. The 50 million gained over the winter also helped to quiet the pro-Disney faction who had been slowly gaining ground again with Lucasfilms once again showing they were the best and metaphorically shooing their critics back into the den. One things for sure, next Kurosawa film that was made you had to get an instant release in the states.
War of the Worlds Directed by: Charles "Chuck" Martin Jones
Produced by: Roy E. Disney
Distribution: Walt Disney Productions
Starring: Vincent Price (The Narrator), Bob Flynn (The Artilleryman), John McIntire (The Curate), Bob Newhart (The Narrator's Brother), Jim Jordan (Ogilvy), Brian Bedford (Henderson), Phil Harris (Stent), Bernard Fox (Lord Hilton), Eva Gabor (The Narrator's Wife) and Michael York (The Captain of the HMS Thunderchild).
Walt Disney Productions Budget: $25,000,000 Walt Disney Productions Profits: $543,221,118
You remember your first and last meeting with Roy Disney, back then when Warner had died not with bang but with a whimper, and like jackals you and all the rest of the studios in town had gathered to feast in its fat carcass. You and Mike managed to get some of the leftovers, while Roy managed to surprise everyone and take one if the big, juice parts; the entirety of the animation department and the rights to all its characters. You'd gone to congratulate him, hear his thoughts about what the plans were for such an iconic brand, and left somewhat disappointed hearing how animation in Disney had fallen so far, to the point of being considered an afterthought, something that perhaps no longer had a place in the company.
Perhaps if you hadn't heard such a depression proclamation, you'd have refrained yourself from making one of your own; how you'd soon be making your own animation studios, and dethrone Disney from its own pedestal. It was brash, it served no purpose, but you couldn't help yourself. Disney, the company who practically redefined animation, showed the path and set the bar for quality, becoming just another victim of not seeing the art and story, losing to inertia and stagnation without a Walt to show them the way...better that it die facing the new generation than just as Warner did; alone and forgotten.
You just never expected for Disney to pull an Elvis on you. For the King had come back to defend its throne, and was not yet ready to give it up without a fight.
It all started when you first founded DreamWorks, when you got your first round of defectors from Disney who'd talked to you about the layoffs, the restructuring, and news of Roy Disney with Chuck Jones themselves working at something that they hoped would revitalize the animation department at Disney. Then came news of changes in Disney's Board, the future of both Live Action films and animation, and a future animated adaptation based on H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds.
That...that blew your mind completely out.
It was so against everything and anything that may have come out of Disney that for a moment your mind tries to deny it when you got the info. As time passed, as your animation department grew and took jobs with both PBS and Sunrise to better train them and be ready for your first theatrical debut...the news from Disney never changed. Only promotions and media showing small snippets here and there that just hyped up the movie into something truly groundbreaking; the first Disney animated movie not based on a Fairy Tale, the first movie that would have a more mature tone (if not one that would ape Ralph Bakshi's films...and you still had to talk with Mike about that LotR movie!), and a movie that if what you were seeing is true, would make up for all the losses incurred in the department from the death of Walt himself till now.
Disney was set to make an explosive return, and by God, they didn't fumble it.
War of the Worlds was everything one could expect from an adaptation, and more. Outside of Lucasfilms, it was the most faithful, the most beautiful, and the bets acted that has been shown so far. The film looks fabulous, the atmosphere, the cell drawings, the animation is all on top form. You remember stories Don told you of how they were forced to use the same cell animations as the time of Walt just because it was from that time. Well, nothing of that was seen here, everything was smooth, new, completely original, accompanied by a magnificent score both rousing and spooky. There's genuine suspense and scares through the entire movie, something you'd never thought you'd say about it before.
Vincent Price makes for a magnificent narrator that when accompanied with the animation and atmosphere turns it into a master class in horror. Bob Flynn managed to play the self-serving, cowardly artilleryman to a T, his voice giving the cowardly man a despicable quality that both made you hate him, and fear for if you ever met him. There's so many great moments which are filled with unnerving suspense and scary chills. Truly imaginative details like the burning of London, the Tripod scenes and the river of the dead bodies burning after the destruction of the HMS Thunderchild. All of these will live in your memory, and those of the audience, for a long, long time.
Audience and critics alike joined hands together in order to praise the movie, calling it a " New film for a new generation". Ebert is calling it a "bold move, and an excellent example of craftmanship worthy of the House that Walt built". Earnings for the movie have passed the half a billion mark (Despite their budget being greater than anything they've ever tried before) and there's even talk of another Oscar for Disney, the only one after Snow White!
As for your animators, well, they are furious...at Disney! From what Don's told you (when you can catch him away from Hiawatha and his project) They spent nearly their entire lives working under that company telling them again and again for the need to innovate, to create something new, to basically do the same thing they're doing now...and their reward was to be belittled, ignored, or in many cases outright fired! To see Disney putting forth this, to see them mock them so blatantly when they finally have a chance to make something great...!
They will not stand for this. Disney through the gauntlet at them, and that has lit a fire under all. John and Ron have been working in their off time for more ideas and improving their story of Aladdin, Don is talking about a new adaptation after Hiawatha is done, while nearly every animator that once had to work with Disney is giving 110% in their efforts, if only to show them in the next feature film.
It seems that whether you wanted it or not, an animation war had begun.
Solomon Kane in the Nephilim's Castle Directed by: Martin Scorcese
Produced by: Michael Eisner
Distribution: Lucasfilms Unlimited
Starring: Pierce Brosnan (Solomon Kane), Charles Dance (John Wilems), Jurgen Prochnow (Baron Von Staler), Shohreh Aghdashloo (Baroness Maharis), Nicholas Hammond (Johan), Steve Forrest (Father Stuttman), Robert Hayes (Brother Wilhelm)
Conan was always going to be your favorite of Howard's works but in a close second was Solomon Kane. It was funny as unlike Conan you spent most of your life avoiding Solomon Kane, thinking that he was a weirdo pilgrim that even for a Howard story was a bit too loony of an idea. Then about five years ago with your MASH money you started collecting Howard books and read Solomon out of obligation to read the Canon. Having somewhat matured and experienced the harshness of Hollywood combined with your newfound faith, reading Solomon Kane for the first time was a one of a kind experience similar to that fateful day you picked up Conan from the library and started exploring the world of the Hyborian Age. In some ways Solomon Kane spoke to you on a deeper level than your favorite hero. He was a devout and humble men, never perfect, simply striving to do good. He had great faith in the Lord and in his fellow man, always exploring the world to search out new experiences and help everyone he could high and low. He was a dashing rogue yet so pure, a man who fought in darkness yet only served the Light. Solomon Kane shared with Conan what it meant to be a fantasy protagonist, to be so greater than life yet also be the core of what it means to be human. Had it not been for the film brats rush for Conan and Martin's interest in Kane, you would have undoubtedly tried to make it your next film after Star Wars. When watching the movie at the premiere, part of you was jealous that you missed out on starring in such an experience, yet you had a strong feeling that all the stars had aligned and the movie turned out just the way it needed to be.
When Martin requested to be the Director of Solomon Kane, you had at first been extremely hesitant. This was coming from a man who preferred dealing with New York urban dramas and had once famously derided popular entertainment as forgeries of art. Watching the movie, it was clear that there could have been no one else than Martin to guide the film's creation. Like you Martin was a heavily devout Catholic, and in spite of Solomon being a Puritan, his faith and personality contained virtues and a way of life that was universal for any true Christian which played extremely well with Martin's bread and butter of faith, sin and the follies of man. Whereas other Directors would have just turned the film into a generic Lord of the Rings ripoff with Christian paint, Martin always made sure to keep Christian themes and faith as an integral part of the plot and setting, creating something that could heavily resonate with both believers and non-believers. It was how a Christian movie should be, spreading a message of salvation and inner faith without being preachy and moralizing, all through a protagonist who was a true believer with deep love for God. Martin was working with beautiful source material and a perfect adaptation script, and yet somehow he transcended both into something far greater than even Howard could have imagined.
By far the greatest aspect of the film were its actors. Martin's specialty was always going to be sculpting a cast into something greater by using them to their fullest potential and it showed here. Just as people said you were Conan, so too did Pierce Brosnan bring Solomon Kane to life and would likely for generations to come be THE Solomon Kane. It was fucking amazing watching him just fuse into the role a way that Al Pacino could only rival, like Mark Hamill if Luke was a brooding hero of faith. It makes you wonder how the hell did Pierce not vibe with the Star Wars auditions, but it was probably for the best. Mark and Pierce both became heroes and both found their iconic roles. The rest of the cast was a treat with Charles Dance playing the relatable straight man and comedic relief well, helping to bring some levity to the story and rising to the occasion when called. Shohreh Aghdashloo was a diamond in the rough that you were really thankful to Martin for finding and giving her a new outlet in America to escape the current mess in Iran. Shohreh at first plays to the standard trope of the temptress, and then goes beyond the tropes to show heavy depth and nuance of a victim yearning for freedom, and in the end just as Carrie did with Leia, embracing her role in action and becoming a hero. Jurgen Prochnow also gave a tremendous debut, really driving home the theme of man's follies and the arrogance of kings with his complex portrayal of the Baron, someone who wants to do and be good yet is blind to the consequences of his deeds and lead astray from the righteous path. Then there was Nicholas Hammond, and how the hell motherfucking Spider-Man managed to steal the show in the third act was beyond you. Apparently the dude really wanted to earn his paycheck or open doors for a post Peter Parker career because once the mask was off and he showed his true colors as Nephilim, he ate the scenery in the best way possible and became one of the most memorable villains in film while delivering a hell of a twist. All the minor cast and extras played their roles excellently, it was a magnificent tale.
Of course what good are the actors if they are unable to perform on a stage worthy of their talents? In that regards Martin delivered plenty and then more. ILM continued their unbroken streak of genius by managing to construct a beautiful castle in the Lucasfilms studio lot which transplanted a slice of 16th century Germany to LA and somehow seemed as authentic as a true castle. The creepy architecture which seemed to threaten to devour the heroes and combined elements of faith, majesty, sin and terror really created Gothic Fantasy that made you feel the world. The climax was definitely going to go down in cinematic history as it managed to rival if not surpass Conan's magic with the most realistic and terrifying depiction of fallen angels and demons, witchcraft and sorcery brought to life in the historical (You had no idea why, but Steve seemed giddy after watching it, something about inspiration for Indiana Jones?). Martin's cinematography which focused on naturalism and stories through personal introspection of the characters was truly at its best here. Combined with a stellar score and badass action scenes, it truly was an amazing feat of fantasy.
Then there was the release and what followed for the next three months was truly a fascinating story. When the promotional campaign started, Mike admitted he didn't really know how the hell to market the film. He was a secular Jewish man who was the Producer of a Christian Gothic Fantasy and the tone and genre were so alien to him and he was unsure of how to sell something to the public that had elements of horror and adventure. So he arranged for Martin and the cast to do a press tour and release the first trailer, like throwing a fishing rod into the ocean and seeing how they take the bait and how to react from there. Ironically, Mike's biggest aid came from the Evangelical Moralists.
Like clockwork, once the word about Solomon Kane spread, the Moralists raised their pitchforks and torches and did their best to cancel and boycott the film long before it opened. They decried Solomon Kane as another Lucasfilms bastardization of faith and promotion of witchcraft and Satanism following in the footsteps of Carrie and Dawn of the Dead. The children couldn't possibly be exposed to fantastical Christianity because it went against the bible and everything about the film was heresy. This time there was more organization and ammunition to the movement with Pat Robertson leading the charge, but in spite of all of that, their opposition actually fueled interest and hype. These same haters had decried Carrie and Dawn of the Dead, and your average Cinephile loved those two films as horror masterpieces, so surely there opposition was a sign that this was good? Martin for once seemed to have thin skin towards the controversy and went on the attack, labelling the moralists as fearmongers who get off of their power trip of spreading fear and paranoia and that they would rather preach and condemn of what was wrong than live by the bible or open themselves to other expressions of faith. From there things escalated into a sort of religious culture war with Catholics and Mormons coming out in defense of the film. With word of Solomon Kane spreading and having gained experience on how to market a Howard film through your work with Conan, Mike crafted a narrative combining the beauty of faith and strength from love of God with fantastical action and adventure as if the literary classics were being brought to light under a Gothic lens. With this the conversation blew up and people blocks were busted on opening weekend to see Lucsafilms' latest masterpiece.
You could rest easy knowing that Solomon could more than make back its budget, but you had no idea it would be so fucking huge, and while performing alongside Disney's magnum opus of War of the Worlds. Martin Scorcese, the man who held popcorn movies with disdain, was now the Director of the sixth highest grossing movie with $423 million at the box office. Audiences who both believed in Christ and did not along with all walks of life generally had a great time with everyone finding their own favorite aspect of the film to fall in love with. The general consensus was that it was the first non-biblical/slice of life film to treat religion with respect without patronizing. Most critics gave the film high praise with callouts for the great acting and Martin's direction with plenty of Oscar buzz. There was a very loud minority who gave the films 1 star, but these tended to come from personal biases with how they never liked the themes and genres and it only reinforced everything they saw as a bad movie. You wish you could just see releases that saw high praise on both sides, but this was probably as good as it was going to get.
The sales data was where things got really interesting. For once a Lucasfilms release was heavily unbalanced in terms of geography with international sales only making a third of the American box office. Understandably this was due to the Christian themes and it having fantasy elements instead of a pure biblical adaptation like Jesus of Nazareth. A good collection of Arab countries banned the film outright and in reliable Japan it only made 4 million. Thankfully there was some global audience with it being a hit in Latin America and the British Isles. Hell, even in Troubled Northern Ireland both Protestants and Catholics liked the film and for a month things were calm similar to the "Star Wars Peace".
It seemed that Solomon Kane was mostly fit for America, but what was most shocking of all was that the audiences who watched it in repeat and had the most love and acclaim for the film was the Evangelical's home base of the Bible Belt! Sure it also so packed theaters in the Mormon Corridor and Catholic immigrant neighborhoods, but the Deep South full of pastors who decried Solomon Kane as Satan's film fucking went insane in support. Apparently a badass Christian adventurer who was firmly devoted in his faith, defeating fallen angels through the Power of Christ was the type of story that Southern America was yearning to experience. Southern cinemas showed long lines which blocked streets. Strict bible-thumping parents gave their kids money to see Solomon Kane. Bible Study groups had movie nights watching it, a lot of your harshest pulpit critics suddenly did 180s and praised Solomon Kane as Hollywood gone right. Oh it's not like the Moralists were purged completely as there are some people who just can't handle any work of fiction with a hint of darkness or violence. But apparently, if it's done praising Jesus then it's an exception. Welp, it's a shame you'll probably have to go through this whole song and dance with Conan, but a victory is a victory.
Still, you have to wonder if you set off a trend or something. It made for a particularly amusing Sunday mass when you, Carrie and Mary were afterwards greeted by lots of your fellow parishioners who gave praise for Solomon Kane, with Father Roy even saying in the homily that it was nice to finally have a Hollywood Hero who "Kicked ass for the Lord". Todd also really liked it, said it got him thinking about a lot of things and he asked to borrow your catechism. You prayed he finds what he's looking for.
You expected after the immense success that the other Studios would once again do their best to follow the trend and milk it, but surprisingly they were rather muted, if not anxious about what this meant, not even Universal throwing around money to one up Lucasfilms. New Hollywood among its many features was a secular institution where the open piety of the 40's and 50's was gone. Even for the few filmmakers and executives who were devout like you and Martin, making a religious hybrid like Solomon Kane didn't really fit their idea of a proper Christian film and made them uncomfortable. To be fair, even with the discomfort there might not have been a radical change in production strategy as all the studios seemed to be set in their ways. Universal was the Blockbuster Factory with a love for Epics. Disney was once more giving love to their abused child of animation while bolstering Touchstone. Fox was now a house of horrors. Columbia was Superheroes and UA took the scraps and experimentals. If Conan and Dracula were huge hits, you wonder if that made Lucasfilms the House of Fantasy?
At least one thing that was guaranteed is that the Lucasfilms-Howard partnership was going to go strong well into the next century. The Howard Estate LOVED Solomon Kane and were greatly happy that the author had finally achieved mainstream success with one of his signature characters being received so well by the public, though they were surprised that Conan didn't come first. The Estate since release had been getting a flood of offers for media tie-ins and partnerships with the most prominent being talks of a Solomon Kane comic for Marvel. The Howard Estate also informed you that the current Conan writer, Robert Jordan would be approaching Lucasfilms in the near future with some original Howard scripts for Kane and other characters. Hopefully one day you could receive full control of the Canon, but for now you were very thankful for this lucrative and booming partnership.
Lastly of note was Solomon Kane's distinction of being the first Lucasfilms movie to be released on VHS. The introduction of VHS compatible VCRs the last year had caused a consumer revolution where now if someone missed a movie's theatrical run, they didn't have to hope and wait for it to come on TV at a good time or wait for rerelease, now they could buy a copy of the film directly then go home and plug it into the VCR. For some reason Disney was strongly against the practice and preferred to keep to their cherished vault, but not Lucasfilms. Both Mike and George were in firm agreement that VHS was the future of film consumption and as such Solomon Kane would serve as the first Lucasfilms VHS release with plans for Star Wars next year and your Warner purchases over the course of the 80s. Solomon Kane would be released in October as first a Halloween movie and then a Advent and Christmas movie. Sales were sparse outside of North America, but in the US and Canada it was a firm hit with over 80 million dollars and blew away expectations with over a million copies sold. Not only was Solomon Kane being purcahsed by newly constructed video rental stories and libraries, it was seeing a spreading personal ownership in middle and upper class families and even some poorer households saved up enough money to watch their favorite Christian hero on repeat. It was an amazing feat, for what would have been just a couple million theater tickets in numbers, Lucasfilms got 80 million and pushed Solomon Kane's net worth to half a billion. Currently Mike was engaged in negotiations with the Victor Company to find some way to significantly reduce costs of operation and sale so Star Wars VHS sales would hit tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions. It would probably take some years before the VHS was a common household item, but like the radio and TV it would get there. And now you would see the start of a very fine collection.
Black Hole Directed by: Gary Nelson
Produced by: Ron Miller
Distribution: Walt Disney Productions
Starring: Maximilian Schell, Anthony Perkins, Robert Forster, Joseph Bottoms, Yvette Mimieux, Ernest Borgnine, Tom McLoughlin, Roddy McDowall and Slim Pickens.
Domestic Profit: $21,961,073
International Profits: $55,912,073
You don't know what you were expecting to be honest. When you heard that Disney was trying to make their own Star Wars-like movie you'd actually burst out laughing so loud that you'd startled both Mike and George during the meeting. But how could you not! All these studios can't seem to realize that Star Wars is not something you can imitate. It's not a formula, it's not a cheating strategy to success; it's an original story that managed to be successful thanks to the work and planning of one of the most visionary directors that ever existed, and to try and ape it is an exercise in futility.
Then you heard how they'd reworked the story to make it more of a horror than a Science Fiction tale and you got worried. Whoever was behind this had wisened up and was trying something different and unique, something that could very well succeed if properly handled. You'd already been surprised with the advent of the resurging animation department in Disney, that they could very well deliver a new and interesting Live Action film would show the entire company to be in the up and up.
Well...it seems you had nothing to worry about, or at least not completely.
Alright, to be honest, Black Hole is actually not that bad of a movie; It is fairly well-paced, touches on some interesting issues, and while the fact that they actually decided to not go the Sci Fi route and go for the full horror experience might have hampered them a bit due to it still being a Disney movie, it also managed to entice many of the audience and reviewers who wanted something different form the usually family friendly corporation.
Not like that will aid them during the next film, but for now, the story is quite interesting...
It centers around a small spaceship (the Palomino) and her crew who are charting the deepest depths of space in the search for new life. Early on, they come across a giant Black Hole and notice a long-lost ship (the Cygnus) which seems to be parked right by it. The ship appears to be empty until closer inspection reveals it to be full of robots, humanoids made up of the old crew, and a mad scientist type of guy in charge of it all. He plans to take his ship through the Black Hole to see what wonders are beyond it. Needless to say, most of the Palomino's crew can see that the guy has a few loose screws and try to escape before he can take them with him. An intense, if not very interesting, fight happens, and they actually move through the Black Hole, showing that there is actually something there before the movie ends.
You find yourself conflicted here; on the one hand It has great sets and model work which makes the giant space craft, where the majority of the action takes place, an evocative setting. The special effects are just magnificent and thought provoking (and of course they are, ILM worked on them). And the visuals themselves give life to nearly every part of the movie, and its atmosphere as a whole; they ultimately are used also to set up the strange and ambiguous ending which involves visions of Hell and an alternate universe. Pretty daring for Disney, they actually seem serious on their horror experiment on the whole, what with the rumors of what John Carpenter may be cooking up for future distribution. In a way, this could be seen as a canary in the coal mine situation, putting it forth in order to see what the public's reaction is, and whether to continue with their route.
Well, if that's what they had planned...then they failed successfully. Audiences did go to see the movie, yet that's where the entire situation turns...weird. on the one hand, you have the moralists that are raking Disney on coals for actually daring to put a Horror movie, and betraying their trust in the family friendly brand, then you have the critics who are praising the movie to the stars and through the Black Hole itself, though most of that praise comes from the visuals and atmosphere (You're welcome Disney!), and then you have the audience who seemed to just go to the movies because said moral agitators started going apeshit, just to find a movie that, well, alright seemed okay, but aside from impressive effects and a horror atmosphere, did not have anything else to go with it.
Yeah...the movie is a bit like that. It's not a bad movie, but neither is it a good one that will shatter all expectations. From what you've heard, Disney itself is not sure whether to continue with this kind of experiments or just abandon it all and go back to the old and tried formula of family friendly movies and comedies. Ron Miller himself has shown uncharacteristic support and leadership on pushing forward, and is only a tenuous alliance with Roy Disney that is keeping the more conservative elements (led by "Card" Walker) from taking over the Board once more and "righting the ship" as it were.
As for yourself, you have no thoughts one way or another. You went to see the film, and like many others, you only felt some degree of enjoyment. Like one of those things you just see and think "that's nice" before moving on. It at least made its budget back, and gained some profit from what you've heard; it's reception internationally being more than enough, with great success in Latin America, though not so much in Europe and Britain. France seems to love it though, requesting repeat showings again and again.
At the very least you got paid for the effects, now you just have to wait and see whether this will affect Disney in any significant way in the future. You don't hold much hope for Live Action, not after seeing what they could do with War of the Worlds. Then again, if they try to cut the budget even more after that masterpiece then frankly, they deserve what's coming for them.
